Recorded history, traces the vending machine back to about 215 B.C. and is thought to have been invented by mathematician, Hero or his teacher Tesibius. Both were natives of Greece, Hero's original manuscript described and illustrated a coin-activated device for vending sacrificial water in Egyptian temples. The device was completely automatic and was set in operation by the insertion of "a coin of five drachmas."
From its modest beginning, this silent salesman with built-in cash register has been adapted for a wide variety of goods and services, and today these machines annually move billions of dollars of goods and services to consumers around the world.
Unfortunately, with the development of the vending machine, the public at large has come to regard the silent salesman as fair game--to "beat" the machine or, failing that, to stuff or pour something down its innards to put it out of commission. Reckoning with this perversity is still a mighty challenge for inventors, designers and engineers.
Which brings us to the purpose of the present invention. The latest technology used to "beat" these machines, and more particular, machines having bill validators, is the injection of foreign liquids into the bill validators. This method is better known as "salting" the machine.
When a bill validator or coin mechanism is vandalized by conductive liquid, it causes a short in the power supply and logic signal pins. The shorting of the power supply causes an increase in current, causing major damage to the power supply, at the same time the logic pins are shorted together sending false signals to the bill validator and coin mechanism telling them to give back change and/or vend.
The present invention immediately shuts off the logic lines and power to the bill validator and coin mechanism when the vending machine is "salted" wherein, the probe instantly detects any conductive liquid which activates the apparatus.